Bravely Dreaming
by TheTryingWriter
Summary: She was shy to a fault. Always timid and afraid. She's also an older sister to a baby brother. Being an older sibling can change you. For her it was for the better. One-shot


"Please speak up Mirlo."

The short haired brunette sighed as her name was being called by her teacher. Mirlo shifted nervously in her seat. Her desk was in the back corner of the classroom, by the window.

This request was not uncommon to the twelve year old.

Speaking out was troublesome for the young girl because her voice would always come out small and soft. Her inability to speak up loudly and clearly, made this simple request a nightmare in Mirlo's everyday life.

She was currently in her math class and the teacher had called on her to answer a question. Her math teacher, Miss Camelot wanted to know the answer to the math equation on the board.

Usually she would keep her violet eyes in a downcast position to avoid being called on. Most of the time it worked to her favor, but at times it failed her. Instead it brought more attention to herself.

The whole classroom was silent as Mirlo struggled to repeat her answer. The silence was nerve wrecking as it unnecessarily put her as the center of attention. Everyone was waiting on her and she couldn't dare herself to speak louder. She froze and became mute.

"Mirlo, it is a simple equation."

The teacher was growing impatient with Mirlo's silence as she crossed her arms and tapped her feet impatiently. The girl was one of her top scorers, so she knew that this equation wasn't difficult for the girl.

Mirlo knew the answer, but she couldn't repeat it. Knowing everyone was waiting on her, Mirlo's face grew warmer with every passing second.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence, the girl who sat next to Mirlo stood up from her seat.

"Miss Camelot, Mirlo said the answer is 28."

Disapproving the sudden outburst, Miss Camelot frowned. However, she had to continue on with the lesson with only ten minutes remaining of class.

Saying thank you, the elderly teacher turned her back from her students, lifting up a marker to the whiteboard to write another equation.

Lione turned over to the awestruck brunette, giving her a thumbs up accompanied by a big smile. She had saved Mirlo once again.

Mirlo smiled back at her friend with much gratitude. However, she felt hopeless as she once again couldn't overcome her shyness.

Mirlo sighed and stared out the window turning away from her friend.

The rest of the day went smoothly and finally the last bell of the day rang, letting her know that it was finally over.

"Are you still thinking about what happened in math today?"

Mirlo's eyes were downcast on the ground walking out of the building. She had indeed been stuck on that earlier scene. It was a broken record that stopped and rewinded back to the beginning. Her friend had not failed to see her distant, distracted downcast expression. Mirlo looked over at her best friend Lione and nodded shyly.

Lione shook her head disapprovingly at Mirlo causing her ponytail to sway side to side.

Ever since Mirlo could remember, Lione always tied up her long tangerine hair in a ponytail.

The short bobbed brunette believed that long hair was a act of bravery. Having such long hair was daring and eye catching. That was why she kept her hair at above shoulder length. Also her best friend had straight bangs across her forehead that made her amber eyes pop out.

Lione's eyes to Mirlo were always passionate, which went well with her outgoing friendly personality. Mirlo's eyes were a somber violet color. A color below indigo in the rainbow spectrum. It always seemed like a sad color to Mirlo. So she thought violet was depressing. However, the shy girl believed they complimented her reserved and silent personality.

Mirlo had always wondered how Lione would consider being friends with someone as shy as her.

They had met in first grade on the playground. She had been sitting by herself by the sandbox when Lione came up to her and asked if Mirlo wanted to play on the slide together. The little violet eyed girl had happily agreed not wanting to sit by herself any longer.

That had been the start of their friendship. Since then Mirlo had a hard time making more friends because she would freeze up when she met new people. It was a miracle that she was even able to make friends with Lione.

However, she came to believe that having one close friend was all she needed. That idea changed as they both grew up and Lione was friendly with everyone she met. Mirlo saw how happy her best friend was with making new friends and didn't want to be left behind so she also tried.

However, she had grown too quiet and being the center of attention scared her even if it was one person looking at her. At that point everyone thought she was too quiet so they ignored her. Fortunately, Lione didn't care and continued to be friends with the shy brunette.

"Don't worry about it Mirlo. I've always got your back."

Mirlo smiled at her kind friend and whispered a thank you. Lione gave her a thumbs up and as she looked ahead. She saw kids getting inside a yellow bus.

"Oh, gotta go Mirlo! My bus is here, see you on Monday!"

Lione called out behind her as she ran to the yellow school bus. Mirlo waved not having the vocals to yell back.

Mirlo watched as her energetic friend climbed into the bus. She giggled when Lione sat herself at the back and waved passionately through the back window. With one last wave, the young brunette walked towards home looking forward to the weekend.

The next day Mirlo was sitting on her bed looking at one of her art books. Her favorite pastime was flipping through her books and looking at the artistic detail.

It was Saturday afternoon and she was still feeling tired. The art pieces she observed became blurry, but when she stared at it a little longer they cleared up. It was frequent and it didn't help that her face was gradually becoming warmer.

"Mirlo would you come into the living room?"

Mirlo put down the art book she was looking at when she heard her mother call. Leaving her room, Mirlo stopped in front of the last room in the hallway, before reaching the dining room. She went inside the nursery that belonged to her eight month year old baby brother, Narlo. The walls were painted a baby blue color. Looking at them, Mirlo remembered when her and her father painted the room before his arrival. She had painted the stork that was on the wall right above her brother's crib. Mirlo found the baby boy wide awake staring up at her inside his crib. In his white and blue trimmed onesie, he stretched his tiny arms and his exposed small hands grasped the air above.

"Mirlo? Are you coming?"

Mirlo turned her head to the direction of her mother's voice and quietly replied, "Coming."

She picked up her eager baby brother and sat him on her left side, above her hip. Once he was nicely settled and supported by her hip, she left the nursery and headed to where her mother was.

Going into the dining room she turned over to the living room beside the kitchen. Standing by the door to the street was Mirlo's mother with her brown purse strapped around her shoulder.

"Mirlo I am going on a few errands. I need you to take care of Narlo while I am gone. Okay?"

Mirlo nodded and noticed her mother's stern eye on her. It was that look she always got from her mom when she wanted her use her words. Mirlo quickly and quietly responded.

"Okay mother."

Her mother always wanted Mirlo to talk more because she knew too well of her daughter's extreme shyness. Her mother was worried that Mirlo would continue to grow up silent and reserved so she challenged her whenever she could. She sighed as her daughter responded with still a quiet voice and decided to leave it at that.

Mirlo didn't want to upset her mother, but she couldn't help it. Her quiet voice was part of her and couldn't be changed that easily.

"Okay then I will be back in an hour."

This time Mirlo didn't respond and just watched as her mother closed the door behind her on the way out. Her violet eyes went to her baby brother in her arms. She smiled at him and turned her head from him to the playpen in the middle of the living room. Figuring that he would like to be in his playpen, she carefully set him down on his bottom so he was sitting upright.

Narlo then got into his crawling position and made his way over to the green rattle a little ways away. He shook it in content and giggled to the sound it made.

Mirlo smiled at her brother's simple joy. In a clumsy manner she plopped herself on the couch, conveniently behind her.

She watched from where she sat as her baby brother played with his rattle. Mirlo felt her eyelids get suddenly heavy so she let them close for a little bit. The brunette attempted to blink the drowsiness she currently felt. Her eyes lingered shut for a few seconds and sleep slowly overwhelmed her.

However, sleep was not an option for the older sister, so she immediately opened her eyes to continue watching over Narlo.

He was gone.

Surprised, Mirlo rubbed her eyes. It didn't do anything because he was still not in the playpen. The green rattle he was playing with just seconds ago was on the ground where she last saw him.

She couldn't understand what was happening as she stood up in a panicked motion. She had merely blinked and suddenly Narlo was no longer in his playpen. She looked at the playpen to see if maybe there was a opening that she had not noticed before. A perfect closed pentagon was all she saw. There was no way out. Then where was the infant who could barely crawl?

"Narlo?"

Mirlo called out quietly to her baby brother. Looking around her, the worried brunette saw no sign of him. When she walked over to the Dining room, she looked under the table to see if maybe he crawled under there. Still she didn't see him.

The young girl grew more worried as she continued to look and still couldn't find him. What would she tell her mother?

Right then she heard some babbling from the hallway leading to the rooms. Mirlo sighed in relief at the sound of Narlo's baby talk. Convinced she found him, she made her way into the hallway. As she turned the corner she saw her parents room door was left ajar. It was the last room at the end of the hallway.

Once again she heard the babbling. Feeling less worried, she walked over to her parents room.

She walked and walked. Mirlo continued walking some more only to find the door to her parents room still at the end of the hallway. Her slow walk turned into a slow jog. That was not getting her any closer. Her legs slowly gained momentum, till she was full on running to her parents room. Even at the speed she was running she was no closer to her parents room then she was before.

The hallway seemed to go on forever as it extended forward and behind her.

Mirlo looked back while running only to find a long path that was no longer familiar. The hallway was becoming less recognizable every step she took. The only thing that looked familiar was the door at the end of the hallway.

Running out of breath she felt herself slowing down, but decided to make one last stretch at the door.

Extending her hand out she successfully grasped the handle of the door and pushed herself forward only to fall into darkness.

When she had forced the door open she did not find herself in her parents room, but instead falling into black nothingness. The falling sensation was too much for her. The fear of what was to become of her, overwhelmed her. She covered her panicked eyes with her hands trying to cut out the darkness of her surrounding with her own darkness. Afraid for her life, Mirlo didn't notice that she was no longer falling.

She strangely stood on her two feet with hands covering her eyes shut. There was no impact in her landing as she never landed. It had been like magic.

Mirlo finally realized that she was no longer falling to her doom and slowly uncovered her eyes. Her eyes needed to adjust to the sudden brightness of day. Her eyes scanned the vast dry landscape she found herself on. She stood on dry cracked dirt. She saw tall hard rock boulders scattered in the near distance. It was a desert.

"How did I get here?"

Mirlo whispered to herself and before she could contemplate on it any longer, she heard her brother's babbles. She turned her head listening, trying to find where it was coming from. She listened her way to one of the tall boulders. The tallest one in the isolated desert. The babbles were coming from behind it.

However, to get there she first had to get over the wide,deep and ominous crack. The crack on the ground was a canyon that went down forever. When she dared herself to look down the canyon Mirlo had to avert her eyes away quickly.

All she saw was black. There was no sign of a bottom and that sent chills through her whole body. As she avoided seeing it again she saw a wooden board conveniently placed over the canyon. Her eyes followed the board's length, careful to not let her eyes drift down to the deep darkness. It was long enough that there was leftover on both sides of the canyon. Support wise she did not think it would work as a bridge, but she had to try.

Hearing her brother's babbles that continued on she knew she had to act fast. Her steps were slow and felt heavy as she made her way over to the board that stood on her side. Swallowing hard she looked at the other end of the board. She placed one foot on the wooden plank and then her other foot in front. She made it halfway across the board but then stopped moving. Standing very still in the middle, she felt the canyon's dark core under her feet.

Mirlo began to think that if she made one wrong move, she could fall in and never come out. Her eyes became teary and her body shook timidly in sudden realization of what she was doing.

Then she heard it. Narlo's voice babbled out and ignited a small light in her dark thoughts. Her teary eyes were straight ahead, never looking down. She couldn't do that to herself.

Not now.

Blinking the water from her eyes, Mirlo moved forward once again.

Mirlo slowly and carefully made her way to the end and at the last step she hopped off. Her tense muscles relaxed with both feet on solid dry dirt. They relaxed so much that she could have collapsed right there.

However, she didn't and instead ran over to the boulder that her brother's babbles were coming from. She made the trip around the huge boulder and finally making it to the back where she halted to a stop. Her brother was not there, but his babbles were clearer than ever.

At the very bottom, leaning on the boulder was a small black recorder. Mirlo bent down and picked up the device that had deceived her. She frowned at it as it continued to project her baby brother's voice. Frustrated she turned it to its side to find the off switch. She found it and quickly pressed it.

The babbles hadn't stopped. Instead they grew louder and longer. The babbles became eerie and haunting to her ears. It became too scary for Mirlo. She dropped the recorder and covered her ears. She closed her eyes, trying to completely cut out the terrible sound.

She had only succeeded in dulling the sound but the vibrations of its impact still shook her. After a long minute, the vibrating sensation stopped. Mirlo slowly let her hands decompress.

Thinking it safe to open her eyes, she found herself looking into the entrance of a cave. A dark cave which unlike the canyon had shadows that silhouetted the sharp rock formations that made the inside of the cave. She stared at the cave and was sure that nothing good could come from it.

Suddenly the cave illuminated with color. It was small amounts of scattered light within the cave. Mirlo could see clusters of crystal were stuck to the wall of the cave and when the light hit one, it would start a domino effect. Therefore, it would light another crystal deeper inside. She had no plans to find out how far in the light went but when the crystals sparkled a second time she saw a moving shadow. The shadow was a small person on all fours crawling away deeper into the cave. Mirlo was convinced that shadow belonged to her brother and without second thought she hesitantly walked inside the cave.

Once inside, the crystals dimmed. Mirlo panicked as the light disappeared and turned around to run out. It was a dead end.

The outside she once stood in was gone and she saw a rock wall in its place. She was trapped.

Paralyzed in fear she slowly felt all the strength in her legs give out. Mirlo dropped down and automatically hugged her knees so tightly. Her head was low and her face was hidden inside her arms and legs. At that moment she wished her best friend Lione was there. Lione would know what to do. Unlike herself, Lione was very brave. She wasn't brave at all.

She sniffled in distress wanting this to end. All she wanted was to be back home with her mom, dad and Narlo. However, there wouldn't be Narlo, because he was lost somewhere in this cave.

At that thought she stopped crying and lifted her head. Violet sad eyes watched the crystals light up again mysteriously. There was no light inside this cave so how did they light up.

It didn't matter because Mirlo was grateful that the light came back. She spotted the shadow from before but further away. It was moving away as she sat there watching. Mirlo mustered up her lost strength and stood up. She began walking toward the shadow of her baby brother. The crystals' light dimmed down again and she stood in the darkness afraid, but not like before.

She knew the light would return so she waited. The light returned and she continued to follow her baby brother's shadow. She continued on like that each time the crystals would brighten and dim. Slowly making her way through the cave she hoped she would catch up to him. When the crystals brightened again she saw her brother's shadow disappear to a corner.

She hurried over and suddenly she was showered with a strong light. She shielded her eyes from the light. Her eyes had gotten used to the cave's darkness that the light was almost painful. However, just like they had adjusted to the dark they did the same with the light.

Mirlo could now see clearly and found herself by a lake. The water's cool blue surface was shimmering in the sun's light. It was a green meadow everywhere else she looked. Once again the cave that stood behind her disappeared when she turned back. It was replaced with a vast landscape of green. Her attention was reverted back to the lake when her ears picked up loud crying.

Mirlo looked at the lake and saw that in the middle of it stood a small island. On that island sat a crying Narlo.

Mirlo gasped at the sight and rushed over to the edge of the lake. She looked at the water and back at the island. She estimated that even though the island was a ways away that the water may not be so deep. She took off her slippers and made her way into the water. She walked easily through the water and was making good progress.

However, she realized that the water was actually deeper than she had estimated. The water rose from her ankles slowly to her hips. Eventually she could no longer touch the ground.

She started to swim towards the island and was halfway there when she was got tired. Floating in the water she decided to rest. Over at the island Narlo continued to cry and didn't notice his big sister coming to save him. Mirlo wanted to reassure him so she called out to him.

"I'm coming Narlo."

It came out in a calm soft voice. She stayed afloat in the water still exhausted from her swim. She still had a ways to go even though she had swam a long way. It reminded her of the hallway in her house earlier. It seemed to go on forever, but she had tested that not to be true.

Narlo still wasn't aware of his big sister coming. He hadn't heard his sister's call because of his own loud crying and also she wasn't very loud to begin with. Tired of sitting and crying, the baby boy decided to change something.

He would continue to cry but move. Narlo placed his small hands on the dirt of the island and began to crawl away.

Mirlo saw this and panicked. She pushed herself to swim no matter her exhaustion. She was desperate to make it to him before he reached the water. However, no matter how fast she was going she knew she wouldn't make it in time. He was only a few inches away from the water now. She had to call out to him.

"Narlo."

It still wasn't loud enough because he was still crawling away from her. Her heart beat quickened with every stroke she took.

He would drown and it was all because she wasn't loud enough.

She stopped swimming at the thought of her smiling baby brother no longer existing.

Her heart pounded in her chest. It wasn't because of her swimming, but at the thought of her failure.

He was just a baby and he needed her. He depended on his older sister and she was going to let him down. It wasn't too late she thought. One last time and this time she would do will to protect her baby brother. Now and forever.

Mirlo's chest rose up as she inhaled deeply. Wanting so desperately for her brother to hear her, Mirlo called out to him.

"NARLO! I'M COMING!"

Narlo stopped crawling away and looked over. Mirlo was struggling to regain breath. She sighed in crumbling relief when she saw Narlo turn away from the water and crawled back to the middle of the island. He had a big grin on his face as he knew that his big sister was coming for him.

Mirlo began to swim again towards the island. She was swimming faster than before determined to not let her brother down.

Finally reaching the island she climbed out of the water and made her way to the center. On her hands and knees, Mirlo was facing her brother who reached out his hands to her. He was happy to see her.

Mirlo was also happy to see him. She sat herself on the small island and picked him up, lifting him over her head. He laughed as he was being lifted up in the air. Mirlo giggled along with her brother and lowered him to face level. Narlo babbled and Mirlo nodded reassuringly as if she knew what he was saying.

With her baby brother in her arms she felt at great ease. He then placed his tiny palms on her forehead which felt nice and cool to the young girl.

Closing her eyes, Mirlo felt the heat rise up all over her body. When she opened her eyes again she found a cool wet cloth where her brother's palms once were. It was being placed on her forehead by her mother.

She was no longer on the island in the middle of the lake. She was in her room, laying on her own bed with her mother hovering over her.

Mirlo was home.

"Goodness Mirlo, what a scare you gave me! You should've said you were not feeling well."

Mirlo tilted her head to what her mother was saying. She was confused and the dizziness that she was feeling along with the warmness of her body was not helping. She stayed quiet and listened trying to make sense of what her mother was saying.

"I come home to find Narlo crying in his play pen and you passed out on the couch. How can you let yourself get sick to the point of a 103 degree fever?"

Mirlo's eyes widened at her mother's words. Her drowsiness earlier that day had been a sign of a growing fever. So she had actually fallen asleep on the couch due to it's abnormal warmth.

It had all been a dream. It would explain a lot of things, but Mirlo couldn't help but feel that it actually did happen. Everything she felt and did was so realistic. However, she was glad that her baby brother was really never in danger.

"Where's Narlo?"

Her mother sighed in disbelief at her daughter's concern over her brother rather than herself. However, she could not be that angry because she was really happy at the bond her two children had.

"He is sleeping right here. He wouldn't stop crying until I brought you to bed and then he fell asleep."

Mirlo looked over where her mother was and found her baby brother sleeping soundly by her feet.

The baby boy was lightly sucking on his right thumb. With his left hand, Narlo held onto the blanket that covered his big sister. He held on knowing that something was wrong.

Mirlo smiled at the sweet gesture. Her tired violet eyes widened at her own lack of responsibility. She had fallen asleep when she should of been watching Narlo.

"I'm sorry mother."

Her mother shook her head in that motherly way. It was a reassuring shake of the head that said it's alright.

"I'm just glad that it was just a fever and nothing too serious. But I want you to promise me that next time you will tell me when you are not feeling well."

Mirlo smiled in agreement with her mother.

"I promise."

Mirlo's mother nodded satisfied with her daughter's response and went to pick up her son.

"Alright then. I better take him away so he doesn't catch your fever."

Mirlo waved at the startled awake Narlo who was being taken away by his mother. He struggled and whined a bit as he was being taken out, but when he saw his big sister smiling at him he calmed down a bit. She was alright so there was nothing to worry about.

Mirlo had taken to her bed for the rest of the weekend recovering. When Monday morning arrived, she felt energized and ready for school.

Arriving at school she meet up with Lione who waited for her at the front gate.

"How was your weekend?"

Lione asked as both of them made their way through the gate and towards the school building.

"I had an interesting dream."

Lione was about to ask what Mirlo meant by that when a boy from their math class walked pass them.

"Good morning."

A boy with short curly dark brown hair and forest green eyes greeted the girls. Lione smiled back at the boy who always exchanged math answers with her during group work.

"Good Morning Pastel!"

With that said he walked away not expecting a greeting from the light haired brunette. He knew that she wouldn't say anything back. At least he thought.

"Good morning."

Mirlo projected her voice nice and clearly as she greeted the boy from her class.

Pastel and Lione's eyes widened and their mouths were agape. They had not expected her to speak so loudly, well louder than usual.

The smile on Mirlo's face was so sweet and kind that it made the boy blush and quickly leave.

Lione stood next to Mirlo, staring at her with a bewildered expression.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Mirlo giggled at her friend's question and continued to walk towards the school building. Lione walked beside her with a mixed expression of confusion and curiosity. Mirlo continued to smile because after giving that greeting she felt a great burden lift off her shoulders. She felt a little bit braver, just like in her dream.

"I feel fine. I just had an interesting dream."

 _An interesting dream indeed_.


End file.
